the current field looks like worn out carpet. seriously…watch the games on saturday, sunday and wednesdays. look at their fields. then watch a rays game. it seriously is the one thing that makes the trop look ugly as hell. i think laying a new field down would do wonders for how everyone percieves the trop.

I attend many many games at the Trop and in my mind it is a “great place” to watch a baseball game. It is bright ,colorful and cool with very good site lines. MOst people who knock the trop have never been there to see a game live or have only been there in the days when there were 8,000 people in the seats and it sounded like a warehouse. Any empty stadium has echoes with lots of empty seats.

I have a friend from Boston who was down for the last Boston series and had heard all of the horror stories about the trop and once inside she said, “This is amazing, I wish we had something like this in Boston”. “This is a great place to watch baseball”

Air conditioning and no rain outs ,what more could you want. And by the way I have been to many major league parks and would not take any of them over the trop. The list includes Camden Yards, Yankee Stadium, Ball Park at Arlington, Skydome in Torronto which I believe has had a name change to name a few.

way from where you parked.

I would love it if they got a Five Guys, I had the Checkers burger last time I went and it sucked.

It has improved drastically since then

But I do question how long it will be a viable facility for a Major League team. Sometime in the next 5-8 years, they will most likely need a new park to be able to compete from a financial perspective. The current ownership has done a great job making it a nice place to watch a game, which is a major accomplishment considering it was basically obsolete when it was built.

The people that seem to like the trop all have one thing in common. They have never really been to one of the new ball parks. When you compare the Trop to what they have here in Seattle, and in San Francisco, it’s night and day. It feels like it’s a minor league stadium. Compared to the older stadiums the trop is fine, but it just cannot compete with anything built with computer designs.

Nothing like being able to wait in line for food, and actually see the game because there is no huge wall blocking the concourse from the field.

Plus domes are shit, I don’t care what the weather is. Here in Seattle they managed to build a stadium with a retractable roof that doesn’t block your view of the city when it is closed.

It makes for great debate. I have only been to 4 major league ballparks. I’ve been to the old Atlanta Fulton County Stadium ( which is now a parking lot for Turner Field ). I have been to Turner Field. I have a been to Dodger Stadium & I’ve been to the Trop. To be fair, I never said the Trop had a pretty field. It is an adequate field at best. However, as far as the comfort level, air conditioning, consessions, restrooms, restaurants, souvineer shop, escalators, sight lines, etc., you just can’t beat it. I am only making that comparison with the other 3 major league parks I’ve been to. Obviously, the Trop does not have the history & tradition & actual field beauty that Yankee Stadium has, or Fenway, or Wriggley, or Dodger Stadium. I never said the Trop did. But I will say this! Between the 4 parks I’ve been to, the Trop has been the most enjoyable experience all around. Yeah, it would be cool to experience other ballparks, but I’m glad the Rays have the Trop. I agree that eventually they will have to get a new stadium, maybe 4,5, or even 10 years down the road, but for now, the Trop is wonderful. I liked the other 3 stadiums for different reasons. Dodger Stadium because of the tradition & the field is immaculate. Restrooms & concessions sucked. Turner Field is very beautiful. Concessions were good. Skyline is great. However, very miserable! Go watch a day or sometimes even a night game in Atlanta anytime from May through September! UGH! It’s extremely hot, humid, & sticky. That being said, I usually try to get to Turner atleast 1 or 2 times a year. Fulton County Stadium really had no redeeming values. As much as I loved the Braves, especially in the 90’s & the city of Atlanta itself, Fulton County Stadium sucked!

For my money, the Trop overall is worth the price of admission. The only improvement the Trop needs to make is the actual playing field, but the Trop still rocks!

A new stadium would help out Stu and the front office tremendously. Also if we build a new stadium we will get an all star game so you have to factor in the added revenues for that.

You won’t get rain outs at the new stadium so that cannot be an argument to keep the current one. Sure it may be ‘slightly’ hotter, but a few degrees shouldn’t be a deal breaker. There is also no reason why the food would be worse at the new stadium. In fact it may even be better.

And the Trop sucks. First off baseball isn’t meant to be played indoors. The field turf sucks, just look at what it is doing to Crawford. We have freaking catwalks that come into play. And the sight lines? Are you kidding me? Maybe if you have badass seats they are good, but try sitting in the upper deck. Cat walks block views and you can’t see crap from the party deck. Plus the damn seats aren’t even angled towards home. That is absolute crap. Another bad thing about the Trop is that it is very hard to get around. What I mean is to say get to a certain part of the upper deck you’d have to walk a country mile. There just isn’t enough escalators going up and down. Also the food courts are horribly laid out (food is good, but you miss the game).

that in the next go-around the Rays will be clearer as to why a new park is necessary.

I like the Trop too. But the issue is whether it is sustainable as a major league park and for how much longer. Is the expense of maintaining it, for example, going to undermine the experience? If the Rays’ case is clear and legitimate, then there is no point in arguing that the Trop is a good place to watch a game; the only question then becomes at what point does it have to be replaced.

And whether we like the Trop or not, it is a laughing stock around baseball. And minor though that issue may be to us, it does no good to the status of the ballclub to play in a venue universally derided as a dump.

I also think the heat issue is minimally significant. Of course, it may be moot if the new proposal includes some sort of dome, but I loved the sail model. I go to minor league games here regularly all summer-in Clearwater, Tampa, Dunedin and further afield as well, and in the evening have no problem at all with heat or humidity. In fact, it is generally very pleasant. Near the water with the various techniques for moderating the temperature that the sail ballpark would have included, it would have been a nearly perfect environment for a game.